Related Articles

The results come after Beijing introduced a series of policies since April in response to concerns over slowing growth, including tax breaks for small enterprises, targeted infrastructure spending and the encouragement of lending in rural areas and to small companies.

Wendy Chen, Shanghai-based economist with Nomura International, told AFP: "A series of policy easing measures have taken effect, and the economy has already bottomed out and recovered."

Growth would be "slightly better" in the second half of the year, she said, but added: "We expect more policy easing in the third quarter, in all aspects including the property sector."

Despite the short-term stabilising effect of the efforts, which economists have dubbed "mini-stimulus", some analysts remain pessimistic about the full-year outlook given persistent concerns over the country's huge but troubled property sector.

According to the NBS statement, most key property indicators declined in the first half, with the area of homes sold falling 7.8pc on-year and home sales values down 9.2pc.

Ma Xiaoping, Beijing-based economist for British bank HSBC, cited the real-estate sector as the "main downward risk in the second half" and noted that the property investment growth rate showed a significant decline.

"If this trend continues, we will need to see whether infrastructure construction and manufacturing can offset the impact from the property industry decline," she told AFP.

The NBS's Sheng acknowledged that the property market correction will add to economic pressures in the short term.

"But in the long term, it will be conducive to the healthy development of the real-estate industry itself as well as the healthy and sustainable development of the national economy," he said.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.7pc in 2013, the same as 2012, which was the worst pace since 7.6pc in 1999.

For full-year 2014, the median forecast in the AFP survey is for an expansion of 7.3pc - down from 7.4pc in the last quarterly poll three months ago.

If realised, 7.3pc growth would be the weakest annual performance since 3.8pc in 1990.

China in March set its annual growth target for this year at about 7.5pc, the same as last year.

The objective is usually set conservatively so as to ensure being met - the last time China missed it was in 1998, during the turmoil of the Asian financial crisis.

Officials including Premier Li Keqiang earlier this year emphasised that the goal was flexible - widely seen as a hint it may not be realised.

But last month, Li called achieving it the "inescapable responsibility" of local governments and urged "no delay" in action, an indication of concern.

China's leaders consistently say that slower growth is good for the country as they try to reduce decades of over-reliance on the huge though often inefficient investment projects that have girded expansion.

They envision a new model in which the country's increasingly affluent consumers drive activity, generating slower but more sustainable growth in the long run.

Economists expect refinements to the limited stimulatory efforts to continue in the form of "targeted" steps, though they differ on whether authorities will go so far as cutting interest rates or reserve requirement ratios for all banks.

Separately, the NBS said China's industrial production, which measures output at factories, workshops and mines, rose 9.2pc year-on-year in June.

Retail sales, a key indicator of consumer spending, increased 12.4pc in the same month, while fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, rose 17.3pc on-year in the first six months.

China's central bank said Tuesday that bank lending in the country picked up in June from May.

Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics, described second-quarter GDP growth as "healthy" in an analysis.

"Today's data clearly demonstrate that policymakers have plenty of tools to shore up growth if necessary and we expect that further targeted measures may be rolled out to offset continued weakness in the property sector," he wrote.

The Telegraph Investor

Editor's comment:

Priced to be great value for new investors and those with large portfolios.